Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

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Regional News

SOUTH

CHANNEL ISLANDS

ARC CHANNEL ISLANDS

Seventeen places have been

snapped up for next summer’s ARC

Channel Isles rally – with just 13

remaining. The cruise in company to

Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey, and

Cherbourg will take place between

20-27 August 2016. It is being run by

World Cruising Club (WCC) in

association with RYA Active Marina

and with the support of Hamble

School of Yachting and Practical Boat

Owner magazine.

Following a welcome supper at

Premier Marina in Gosport on 18

August, safety checks and skippers’

briefings, the fleet will set sail for

Cherbourg on Saturday 20 August.

The rally will include time ashore at all

destinations. The 30 boat places are

being allocated on a ‘first come, first

served basis’. Call WCC on +44 (0)

1983 296060, email mail@

worldcruising.com or visit:

http://www.worldcruising.com/arc_

channel_islands/event.aspx.

SOUTH-WEST

GOLDEN GLOBE RACE

The race to and from Falmouth (via

the world) that aims to test the mettle

of modern sailors by limiting them to

50-year-old designs is gaining

momentum. The first 26 provisional

entrants have been confirmed for the

2018 Golden Globe race, which will

commemorate the golden anniversary

a major exhibit in 2018 to mark

occasion with 1968/9 race yachts

Suhaili, Joshua and James Brown

on the NMMC pontoon. The race is

expected to take around 300 days.

WALES

FISHERY CHALLENGE

Members of Port Dinorwic Sailing

Club in Felinheli are challenging

proposals to create a shellfish fishery

in the Menai Strait. Menai Strait Fishery

Order Management Association

(MSFOMA) have applied to ministers

to create a fishery covering an area of

around 237 acres on the bed of the

western Menai Strait in Anglesey and

Gwynedd, which would involve a

trawler laying and relaying mussels

and oysters over a 28-year period.

Welsh government ministers will

consider a draft of the bid.

During a public consultation, PDSC

objected to the proposal ‘principally

due to the effect it will have on our

rights to safe navigation in this area

of the Menai Strait.’

IRELAND

CRUISING CONFERENCE

The 2016 Irish Sailing Association

(ISA) Cruising Conference has been

set for Saturday 20 February 2016.

It will be held from 10am to 5pm at

Howth Yacht Club. Keynote speaker

Eddie Nicholson and his crew will

share their Greenland adventures on

the Najad 440 Mollihawk’s Shadow.

Other talks will include Navigation with

Norman Keane, Women at the Helm

with Daria Blackwell, Whales and

Wildlife Hot Spots, Weather Charts

and Apps, Cruising in Company,

Hydrographics and Coastal Safety.

The event, supported by the Cruising

Association of Ireland, costs r10 for

ISA members, r15 for non-members.

Find out more at http://www.sailing.ie.

NORTH-WEST

ZEBU APPEAL

An online appeal has been launched

to help restore the historic tall ship

Zebu, which sank in Liverpool’s Albert

Dock in September. (Dramatic footage

of the raising of the ship can be found

on http://www.tallshipzebu.org.uk.) Mersey

Heritage Trust volunteers have worked

hard to deep-clean the ship topside

and below, and it is hoped the main

engine and gearbox can be rebuilt

although everything else below decks

was a write-off. Zebu will dry-dock at

Cammell-Laird in the New Year when

her future can be assessed.

STORM DAMAGE

The repair bill for storm damage on

the Isle of Man could run to ‘many

millions of pounds’, said a government

minister. A clean-up operation is

expected to take several weeks after

winds gusting at speeds up to 85mph

and heavy rain caused flooding and

landslides on 3 December. A Ports

Division spokesperson said both

Douglas and Peel marinas avoided

significant storm damage, although

minor damage was caused by debris

flowing down the swollen rivers. He

said: ‘We got off relatively lightly

compared with other areas.’ Many

homes and businesses were flooded

as well as government buildings

including the National Sports Centre.

SCOTLAND

NEW ST KILDA YACHT RACE

Organisers of an inaugural race to

Scotland’s furthest-flung archipelago

are giving sailors the chance to reach

the ‘bucket-list’ destination. The St

Kilda Challenge will see the first yacht

race held from North Uist to the

isolated island group and back again.

Participants will race around 100NM

across the North Atlantic, amid

potentially dangerous weather

conditions. The race, which will start

on Saturday 11 June 2016, is being

organised by Comann na Mara, the

Society of the Sea, with support from

ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne,

the Scottish Sailing Institute, Royal

Yachting Association Scotland and

the National Trust for Scotland, which

owns St Kilda. The route will begin at

Lochmaddy, and it should take sailors

around 24 hours to complete it.

http://www.calmac.co.uk/stkilda/challenge

DRUNK WATCHKEEPER

An official report has found that the

grounding of cargo vessel Lysblink

Seaways off the west coast of Scotland

was caused by an inebriated

watchkeeper. On 18 February 2015,

while on passage from Belfast to

Skogn, Norway, the general cargo

vessel ran aground at full speed, near

Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan peninsula.

The vessel remained on the foreshore

of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s

pioneering victory in the 1968/

Sunday Times Golden Globe race,

when he became the first person to

sail solo non-stop around the globe.

The 25 men include 70-year-old

French solo yachtsman Jean-Luc van

den Heede and one woman – Britain’s

Susie Bundegaard Goodall. Falmouth

will host the start on 14 June 2018, as

well as the finish point. The National

Maritime Museum Cornwall will stage

YACHTSMAN’S BODY

FOUND OFF EAST COWES

Hampshire police have named the

man whose body was found in

water off East Cowes, Isle of Wight

as Nigel Robert Greenyer, aged

63, from Godalming, Surrey. Mr

Greenyer, a freelance skipper, had

been assigned to charter a sailing

yacht moored at Cowes Yacht

Haven. He was found, wearing

sailing gear, close to the East

Cowes shore of the River Medina,

near the floating bridge, on 29

November. Newport and

Bembridge coastguard rescue

teams, the Ryde independent

rescue team and Cowes RNLI

lifeboat were all involved in the

Solent Coastguard-co-ordinated

search to find the suspected

missing yacht, which was located

in the marina. The death is being

treated as unexplained at this time.

SOLENT EXPLOSION

Royal Navy bomb disposal experts

destroyed a 1,500lb (680kg) German

mine discovered on the seabed in

the Solent. The Second World War

GD ground mine was found by a

crane barge 1.5km off Southsea

while removing debris from a site

being dredged in preparation

for the arrival of the navy’s new

aircraft carriers.

The bomb disposal team towed

the air-dropped device overnight

to open waters about 1.5km off

Bembridge, Isle of Wight. A

cordon was put in place while

the controlled explosion on

27 November created a

300m-high plume.

Nigel Greenyer’s body was found in the River Medina in late November

The UK’s Susie Bundegaard Goodall
will enter the 2018 Golden Globe Race